Tyrese Haliburton Sounds Off On Bad Blood Between Pacers, Bucks

There is no love lost between the Indiana Pacers and the Milwaukee Bucks. And Tyrese Haliburton will be the first to tell you that.

The Pacers defeated the Bucks, 123-115, in Indianapolis on Tuesday night to take a 2-0 series lead in the first round of the NBA Playoffs. That's after Indiana smoked them by 19 points in Game 1. And things got chippy — with both games seeing multiple verbal altercations and the assessment of double technical fouls.

During Game 1, Haliburton chirped back and forth with Bucks star Damian Lillard — who was on the bench still recovering from deep vein thrombosis in his right calf. But Lillard returned to action for Game 2, and we saw more fireworks between the two All-Stars.

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"Just competitors. He wants to win, I want to win," Haliburton said. "It's the highest level. We're in the highest level in the most contentious moment here in the playoffs."

And they weren't the only ones getting in on the action. Another tense moment unfolded on Tuesday night when Milwaukee's Gary Trent Jr. and Indiana's Pascal Siakam wrestled over a loose ball with Siakam slamming into the floor.

"We don't have to sit here and act like it's any secret," Haliburton said after Tuesday's game. "We don't like them, they don't like us, and that's just what it is. And I think they live for this, we live for this, so I could [not] care less. I'm out here just trying to help my team win a game."

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And he certainly did that. Haliburton put up 21 points, 12 assists and five rebounds in the Pacers' Game 2 win. Indiana lost three of four regular-season games to Milwaukee. But so far this postseason, they’ve seemed to have the Bucks’ number.

"Everybody says league rivalries aren’t here anymore. Well, it’s right here," Haliburton said. "We played each other it feels like a million times over the last two years. I’ve seen every different coverage that they could throw at us, and I feel like those guys probably feel the same way about us.

"There’s still a lot of games to play. There’ll be more heated moments, more competitive moments."

Tyrese Haliburton throws down a dunk in Game 2 of the Pacers-Bucks series.

(Photo by Jeff Haynes/NBAE via Getty Images)

The series heads to Milwaukee for Game 3 on Friday. And don't expect that one to be too friendly, either.